Museo Galileo
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Virtual Museum
Astrolabe
    • Setting:
      Room V
    • Maker:
      Gerard Mercator [attr.]
    • Place:
      Duisburg
    • Date:
      ca. 1570
    • Materials:
      gilt brass
    • Dimensions:
      diameter 316 mm
    • Inventory:
      1098
    • Astrolabe (Inv. 1098)
    • Astrolabe (Inv. 1098)

This astrolabe, attributed to Gerard Mercator, contains six tympanums for latitudes 43°, 36°, 39° and 42°, 45° and 48°, 51° and 54°, and 57° and 60° (corresponding to the regions between North Africa and Sweden); a seventh tympanum carries the geographic mirror for the northern and southern hemispheres. Probable provenance: Robert Dudley bequest to the Medici collections.